Too gritty for prime-time?

It never fails; as soon as I glom on to a prime-time diversion with a
scintilla of character and originality, it gets nixed by the
powers-that-be. "Big Apple", "Lucky", "Vengeance Unlimited", "The
Agency"; and now, "The Handler". A perfect showcase for Joe
Pantoliano's acting chops falls to the headsman's axe because it's a
touch too gritty, with a plot that DEMANDS you pay attention with more
than one's usual reptile-brain awareness. This whole situation reminds
me of the comment that the Zucker brothers(creators of the "Airplane!"
spoofs) made about why their series "Police Squad" was cancelled: "The
executives complained that the viewers would have to pay attention to
enjoy it." Trust me: if the star of the way-above-average "Joan of
Arcadia" wasn't so hot-looking, Friday nights would be nothing but more
reality shows. I guess I can count my blessings and be thankful--right?

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4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:

Great Show, Great Cast, Nice scripts..

Great show, the cast was good, just a real shame that CBS was myopic
and cancelled it before it truly established itself. When will the
exec's of these companies realise that good TV with good actors and
scripts should NOT be cancelled because they don't think enough of it.

Joe Pantoliano was excellent in the lead, truly acceptable ad totally
believable, Hill Harper was good in the suppoprt role, as where all the
cast. Story lines were nice and crisp, not too much useless
information, and it showed that the characters had a life outside the
"office". The show had some real potential but cancelling it after only
14 episodes is simply foolish. Bring it back CBS.

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5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:

a resounding yes

Even though there are a lot of shows about law enforcement out there, this
one supports the case that there's always room for one more. Joe
Pantolino,
is convincing and human enough as a down-to-business FBI agent who sends
people on undercover assignments, to make the show work. The plots are
engaging enough to make for a worthwhile hour, and the supporting cast
shines through here

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If you liked this show, you oughta see...

...everything by its creator and writer, Canada's Chris Haddock. The
Handler was a watered-down approach to the gritty, character-driven
awesome writing that peppers all of Haddock's work. He had a seven-year
run with the BRILLIANT Da Vinci's Inquest, which many voters here on
IMDb call the single best show ever aired on television, one year with
Da Vinci City Hall, and is now in the second year of the brilliant
Intelligence, which is about both Canada's intelligence agency, CSIS,
and the Vancouver drug-running scene.

The Handler might've been too much for American audiences, but there
are a lot of latenight ABC and WGN viewers falling head over heals for
the curmudgeonly coroner and all the other cast in DVI.

Really. Check it out if you can.

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One of top shows on TV

First episode aired here in Finland yesterday and i thought it was
great. I can't think a better person to this role than Pantoliano.
Couple years back, i thought he was one of the most annoying persons on
TV/movies. But when i saw him on the Sopranos and the first Bad boys
movie (rerun(again!), i've learned to respect his work more and more.
Great actor with his unique charisma. The show itself had this special
atmosphere which works very well with the happenings. I can't wait
until next Tuesday when the second episode comes. Great cast, great
idea and well shot/filmed.